# Pipe cleaner supply problem....any substitute?



## A Scot in Argentina (Sep 7, 2013)

Due to import restrictions imposed by our crazy leader here in Argentina pipe cleaners cannot be sourced at the moment. I seem to recall when I was a boy 50 years ago my father would collect any bird feathers found ( mostly seagull) and use them. Unfortunately no sea gulls where we live so do any of you have any idea what I could use as a substitute until imports arrive or my brother in law in the UK sends me some? My small collection of pipes are in dire need of a clean.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.


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## JKlavins (Jun 28, 2013)

I have no idea, but i'm interested to hear what others have to say. There are no bird feathers anywhere? You can't find any in craft stores or anything?


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## A Scot in Argentina (Sep 7, 2013)

Must admit I haven't really looked for any bird feathers on the ground or in the shops. We're a long way from the beach where it's normally quite easy to find them as sea birds tend to shed them more than inland birds.
Maybe some stout electric wire wrapped in some cotton material might work?


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## Gandalf The Gray (Jul 22, 2013)

A Scot in Argentina said:


> Must admit I haven't really looked for any bird feathers on the ground or in the shops. We're a long way from the beach where it's normally quite easy to find them as sea birds tend to shed them more than inland birds.
> Maybe some stout electric wire wrapped in some cotton material might work?


Hmm, do you have any craft stores near by? Essentially all a pipe cleaner is, is a thin wire coated with fine cotton. You could get a small gauge wire, coat it with some kind of safe adhesive and then either coat it with shredded cotton. Or maybe get some cotton string and shred strands from the string, and then wrap the wire with it?


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

Paper, a lightweight typewriter or notebook paper. Roll it up tight into a small spiral tube and it will serve pretty well, especially if you use separately on stem and bowl (so you don't have so much to insert). Might take a few tries to get the hang of it, but it works okay.


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## Emperor Zurg (May 6, 2013)

If you could come up with a piece of thin, springy wire - like music wire - you could bend a small hook in the end, push this down the stem and into the bowl and grab a loop of yarn with it. Then just drag as much yarn as you want back thru the stem to clean the pipe.


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## Gandalf The Gray (Jul 22, 2013)

Emperor Zurg said:


> If you could come up with a piece of thin, springy wire - like music wire - you could bend a small hook in the end, push this down the stem and into the bowl and grab a loop of yarn with it. Then just drag as much yarn as you want back thru the stem to clean the pipe.


Lol, and people said the Puff pipe community was lacking in ingenuity. I think NOT!


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## bigdaddychester (Feb 22, 2010)

I had to read your original post again to make sure I understand this. The import of pipe cleaners is forbidden? Is this on the commercial side only? If you brother in law from the UK can send you some is it possible for me to send some your way?


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## Hermit (Aug 5, 2008)

I might try threading a string or yarn through the stem.
Like cleaning yer gun barrel with a bore-snake.
You could thread it through with wire and work it back and forth.


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## A Scot in Argentina (Sep 7, 2013)

bigdaddychester said:


> I had to read your original post again to make sure I understand this. The import of pipe cleaners is forbidden? Is this on the commercial side only? If you brother in law from the UK can send you some is it possible for me to send some your way?


From what I can make of it....the problem is not that they're forbidden it's just that some imports are being restricted at the moment or are being held up at the docks......really depends which country they are from I suspect. Lots of cheap rubbish from China seems to be getting through okay probably because they take the majority of soya bean which gets produced here. I could be wrong as I try and avoid politics for sanity reasons. Very kind of you to offer....much appreciated. I shall see if my package from my brother in law gets through okay....that's another thing they're restricting. Packages from abroad can get impounded by the customs people.

Anyway......great responses and some very ingenious ideas to say the least. I was at our countryside place today and spotted some ornamental grass stems which gave me an idea. So I snapped off one of the thinnest ones I could find and guess what? It worked!! Well sort of. It did clear some of the gunge from my Peterson pipe without too much trouble. I have collected quite a few of varying thickness's and brought them home to experiment further.
I might just make a video of this and include some of your ideas. :biggrin:


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## MarkC (Jul 4, 2009)

Let us know if the cleaners get through. I was noticing that a pack of Dill's pipe cleaners could look a lot like a card in an envelope; don't you have a birthday coming up?


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## A Scot in Argentina (Sep 7, 2013)

MarkC said:


> Let us know if the cleaners get through. I was noticing that a pack of Dill's pipe cleaners could look a lot like a card in an envelope; don't you have a birthday coming up?


I'm hopeful that they'll get through okay although I have to say the grass stems are doing not too bad a job at the moment. Thanks for everyone's input on this.


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## beercritic (Feb 13, 2011)

Bird feathers? I'd worry about pathogens.


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## freestoke (Feb 13, 2011)

beercritic said:


> Bird feathers? I'd worry about pathogens.


It would take quite the robust pathogen to develop an inoculum in the shank or stem of a pipe, so your biggest threat would be in handling the feathers themselves. Plucking birds to eat or simply taking the feathers for decoration has been going on for something like 100K years, give or take 50K. I'd be a lot less worried about handling feathers I found than a piece of raw chicken from the grocery store, the latter, greater worry still insufficient to keep me from cutting up a bird and breading it for fried chicken.


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## laloin (Jun 29, 2010)

how bout a Q-tip?


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## A Scot in Argentina (Sep 7, 2013)

laloin said:


> how bout a Q-tip?


Yes been using them for the parts you can get them into thanks.

Just to report my shipment of pipe cleaners from the UK arrived yesterday.
The customs people had opened the package to inspect the contents. As you can imagine the package was so light they must have been wondering what was inside....unless one of them was one of the few pipe smokers you get here I doubt if they actually knew what they were. Anyway, at least they had the decency to put the now opened package in a sealed poly bag and forward it on to me.

I shall get busy giving my pipes a proper clean now....the substitutes worked okay but you can't beat the real thing.


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